


Cass-napped

by NightOwl1600



Series: Kidnapped [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Batdad, Batfam Feels, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Canon whats canon, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Hostage Situations, I try to keep up with comics but most of the time I have no idea whats going on, Kidnapping, Learn it via other people's posts, Protective Siblings, but its ok Cass has it under control, comics are expensive, im trying, mostly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-22
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-06-14 16:21:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15392667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightOwl1600/pseuds/NightOwl1600
Summary: Cassandra Wayne usually doesn’t get kidnapped. Not like her brothers do. Mostly because she makes good decisions when it comes to her civilian life. Bruce usually doesn’t have to worry about her. But when one group of thugs gets a lucky snatch on Bruce Wayne’s only daughter, Bruce and the rest of the family find themselves scrambling to get her back. Cass, on the other hand, is scrambling to find her patience so she doesn't die of boredom.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi. Hope you like it. Are my characters kinda extra? Yes sometimes. Will it still be a good read? I don't know you tell me.
> 
> Anyways, hope you enjoy. Chapter 2 will be out soon! (hopefully)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I edited it so there are hopefully no more grammar mistakes

“Hold it princess,” the man said as he cornered her in the alley. He wore a black ski mask and already had rope and a blindfold waiting in his hand. “Try to struggle or call for help, and this gets a whole lot harder for you. Just come with us and we’ll call your daddy to pick you up.”

In the corners of her eye, Cass saw about five more guys surround her. If she was honest, it was an easy fight. It was obvious from their body language that these guys barely knew any good offensive tactics.

The man who talked, the leader she presumed, noticed her analyzing the other men and called her attention back. “We aren’t going to hurt you. All we want is for big buck Bruce Wayne to give us some money, and you are going to help us whether you want to or not.”

The men started closing in. Cass could start fighting now and finish up before anyone even knew something was wrong, but then again, perhaps she could use this to her advantage.

It was hard to hold up her hands in surrender, but she did, for the sake of her plan. As the men tied her up and pulled the blindfold over her head, she felt a small, insignificant twinge of fear and regret.

No. No this was a good plan. It was the only way to make the others see that she was capable of everything they were.

To make Bruce see.

 

***

Cassandra Wayne is a very careful person. As a vigilante, she exceeds expectations and performs with grace and precision. As a civilian, she is even more calculated. Her lack of communications skills often put her into question with the public, thus forcing her stay out of the spotlight and away from the crowd. While Bruce and the others had tried very hard to get her more involved with civilian life, some things were just easier said than done.

It had taken her awhile to even get used to going out casually with her family, and even longer to go to those dreaded galas Bruce Wayne always has to attend. Civilian life really wasn’t her thing.

That was why she had always been careful when out as Cassandra Wayne. She knew all the ups and downs of being the daughter of a rich man. Dick had gone through everything extensively when trying to get her a better civilian life. Something about wishing he had known this when he was first taken in.

She knew very well about the journalists and news people who follow them around and try to snap pictures to sell. She often saw various pictures of her brothers in magazines and news articles. She also knew about all the kidnappings and threats that could occur because of her connection with Bruce. Again, each of her brothers had had their fair share of abductions to make Bruce age at least 20 years.

And that was only counting the ones they’d had as normal people. 

Cass? No, not her. She was careful with everything she did as a Wayne; where she went, what she wore, and how she carried herself. She made sure no one could ever get anything on her. She considered it being safe. As long as she didn’t hurt her father’s or brothers’ reputations, she’d be fine.

She was much more careful when it came to things like these than anyone else in the entire family. It was either from fear of embarrassing her family or the fact that she was smart enough not to get caught in such bad situations.

But lately, she’d been feeling down about her civilian life.

It wasn’t because she thought she was missing out, or her apparent lack of one, but rather because she felt it was the one thing holding her back from covert missions. 

Everyone had at least one undercover mission in their history. Dick had several over the years, including his very own spy gig, Jason had gone undercover against various criminals and toppled them from the inside, Tim had gone on many information gathering missions (even going as far as disguising as a woman), Steph, from what Cass could recall, had already done at least one or two, and even Damian, the youngest of all of them, had taken up plenty of roles just to get around.

All in all, it felt as if Cass was the only one who hadn’t gotten any covert role, and she knew exactly why. 

She wouldn’t go as far to say Bruce didn’t trust her, but instead, Bruce didn’t know her capabilities when it came to such things. The others had proved themselves whenever they lived out their normal lives. Tim could go from CEO to brooding vigilante by just drinking coffee, Damian could switch from fierce warrior to innocent child in mere seconds (despite not really wanting to, though it had been very useful), and Bruce could be the airhead billionaire, father of five, or dark knight whenever he chose.

Cass, on the other hand, had always just been the same person in or out of the costume. She had never really deemed it necessary to build another personality out of her civilian life since she barely even had one. 

But now, she realized, it could be the difference between getting a mission or not. It wasn’t that she was jealous of the others for getting undercover missions. It was more about her being worthy to wear the Bat symbol. Living up to those expectations had always been important to her. She didn’t feel like she should wear it if she couldn’t even get her own covert mission.

And she didn’t want to tell anyone else either. If she told Bruce, he would probably just give it to her because she asked. Cass wanted to earn that mission fair and square just like everyone else had.

Over the past few months, she had really been trying. She’d asked Jason to take her out to ice cream, made Dick and Damian take her to the amusement park, and even tagged along with Tim to the office. Anything and everything she could think of to get her into the spotlight and give her some kind of civilian life she could build an entirely new personality out of. 

Had that been working though? No. Not really. It had been months and Bruce still hadn’t shown any signs of new assignments for her.

She was pushing her limits when the perfect opportunity came along.

Cass was supposed to meet Dick at the mall after he finished his job. He was going with her to buy earrings. She was on her way through a short cut when the thugs had cornered her.

It was strange though, that they knew exactly where she would be and when she would be there. Despite trying to build a civilian life and personality, most of her daily activities where still kept quiet as to avoid this exact situation.

But at that moment, between choosing to fight or surrender, Cass had an idea. If she could act well enough during the kidnapping, play the scared victim so well that she could convince everyone of her peril, Bruce would _have_ to see her potential in the espionage area.

She knew how these things went down anyways (another thing she went over with Dick). There was either a phone call or a video of some sort to give the ransom. She could get her shot acting then. Even if she didn’t do well, she’d seen Damian and Jason both act cocky and disinterested in their kidnapping to know there really was no wrong reaction. If all else failed, she could free herself or simply keep quiet.

Cass was tied, blindfolded, then carried to the get away van. Sure, it might freak Bruce out a bit when he found out the news, but he had always handled these things well. She’d seen him do it with the others. He always knew when there was any real danger, and Cass was sure she would not be in any danger whatsoever. Not from these guys at least. 

Yes. This was a good plan.

 

***

It had been hours since Dick had called asking for Cass’s whereabouts. The two where supposed to have gone shopping together in the afternoon, and now it was nearing patrol time and Cass hadn't checked in with anyone. Bruce knew Cass could handle herself just fine, but that didn’t stop the gut feeling telling him that something was wrong.

Bruce had been already been in the cave working on some cases when Dick called. Apparently, Dick had been waiting for nearly two hours for Cass to show up, but she never did. Bruce tried to call her, but when that didn’t work, he tried to track down her phone. 

The tracker appeared to be in some alleyway that was a shortcut to the mall. It wasn’t moving.

He sent Dick the coordinates to check, but when he got there, there was nothing but Cass’s discarded purse, emptied of all the money and anything of value except the phone. It was the only lead they had on her at the moment.

The only solace Bruce had was that she hadn’t activated her watch tracker, the ultimate call for help when one of them was in trouble as a civilian. Plus, randomly disappearing on missions was something the Bats did quite often.

But then again, Cass always checked in with Bruce because she knew it scared him whenever they didn’t. 

The thoughts warred back and forth in his mind until the sounds of a motorcycle echoed in the cave. Dick hoped off his vehicle already in his Nightwing outfit, with Cass’s things in hand.

“There’s nothing that can help us in here B. Jay didn’t know anything either, but he’s double checking the area again in case we missed something. Are you sure she didn’t say anything about leaving?” Dick asked as he placed the items on the evidence table.

“She would have at least left a note if it was a secret. But she didn’t say anything about leaving.” Bruce replied curtly. He had already triple-checked every conceivable way Cassandra could have contacted him. There was nothing.

“B, don’t worry. This is Cass. When has she ever been in any real trouble as a civilian? She’s perfectly capable of handling herself.” Dick tried to reassure him.

“It might not be as a civilian. It could be someone who knew Black Bat’s secret identity and took her down when she was least expecting. Or it could even be just a civilian kidnapping and she doesn’t know what to do because she’s never been in one or expected to be in one.” Bruce had made a very long, very worrisome list of reasons why Cass would go untraceable all of a sudden.

Bruce and Dick heard the entrance of cave open, and Damian’s small figure entered in a rushed pace. “Father! The police are here. Drake and Pennyworth are stalling them, but they are asking for you. They said it was urgent.” Damian reported.

Dick turned to Bruce. “You called them already?”

Bruce returned the look with his own, troubled expression. “No. I didn’t.” Bruce replied as he went to undo his cowl and change into some normal clothes. Cass missing and the police in his house was not a good sign. “Damian, go back upstairs and tell them I’m coming. Dick, stay in the cave while I see what they want. I’ll bring a comm with me so you can hear everything that’s going on. Tim, Damian, and I can’t do anything since we are expected to be here. You and Jason aren’t. If this is about Cass, you may need to be ready.” 

Dick nodded and took a seat at the Batcomputer as Damian made his way back up the stairs. Bruce grabbed all the things he deemed necessary and went up. 

He quickly closed the secret entrance to the cave and made his way towards the sitting room, where Tim, Alfred, Damian, and an entire team of police men were talking and setting up. Commissioner Gordon was the first to greet him.

“Bruce,” the man spoke. His face was stern, yet also sympathetic. Something was obviously wrong. “I have some troubling news. You may want to sit down." He was lead to one of the chairs near the table. He glanced to his side to see Alfred coming to sit beside him while another police officer tried to steer Tim and Damian away from the commotion.

“Does this have something to do with Cassandra?” Bruce asked Jim.

“Yes,” Gordon said apologetically. “We thought it be better not to tell Tim and Damian. It might scare them. But, have you had any contact with Cassandra in the past few hours?”

“Actually, I haven’t. Her and Dick were supposed to meet up at the mall earlier today, but she didn’t come. We’ve been trying to get a hold of her, but she’s not answering. We thought she might’ve run out of battery, but its been hours. I was just about to call you.” Bruce answered as honestly as he could. Most of it was true anyways.

“Bruce,” the Commissioner started gently, “This note was sent to the Police station just about 30 minutes ago. When we read it, we packed up and headed straight here.” He handed Bruce the envelope. Inside was a picture of Cass, tied and blindfolded in the back of a van, and a letter addressed to him.

It read:

_Bruce Wayne, your daughter is in our custody. Wait for our to your house call at 8:45pm._

It was already 8:30pm. Bruce thought it more than likely that these men had had his daughter for most, if not all the time she had been missing.

While outwardly, Bruce showed distress and worry that any parent should when confronted with a situation like this, inwardly his thoughts were at war with each other. He trusted Cass. He trusted her enough to know she wasn’t in any real danger.

But she hadn’t turned on her tracking watch at all. No signal or clue to anyone in the family that her civilian self was in trouble, even if she knew she could take those guys down. It made no sense. She always checked in, so there must be a reason why she hadn’t checked in now.

Commissioner Gordon obviously felt sympathy for the stressed father. He put his hand on Bruce’s shoulders and reassured him. “We’ll get her back Bruce. She’ll be fine.”

The police men set up secured measures for the rest of the house and its occupants in case of any threats to the rest of the family. Tim and Damian had been asked to wait in the other room while the call happened, and Alfred was going between rooms to check on all his charges. 

“Master Bruce,” Alfred spoke to get his attention. The older man gave him a curious look. Bruce knew what it meant, but he didn’t have an answer. Alfred seemed just as dumbfounded that Cass hadn’t made any attempts to contact anyone. It must have been worrying him too.

The night continued painstaking slow. Gordon’s men had hacked into the house phone, so that when the call was made, they would be able to track its location. It wasn’t like they needed to though. Bruce was very sure Dick would be doing the same thing down in the cave.

The second the clock turned 8:45pm, the phone rang. 

“Hello?” Bruce answered cautiously. The room fell deathly silent. 

“Mr. Wayne,” the voice replied. Hard, gruff, but also undisguised. If Bruce had to bet, these guys were amateurs. A pro would never let their real voice be heard. That was even more troubling however, because if they were amateurs, what was keeping Cass from contacting them. “I trust that you’ve already received the letter we delivered to the police station.”

“Yes.” Bruce replied. “Where is she? I want to know she’s okay.”

“Sure Mr. Wayne,” movement from the phone was heard as it switched from one person to another. In the background, the man deviously said “Cassandra, its your daddy. He wants to talk to you.” 

All Bruce heard was the sound of small, hard breaths. “Cassandra? Cass are you there?” This may be his only chance to figure out why Cass hadn’t called them and what exactly they were up against. There was a pause for a few seconds before the voice could gain any energy to respond.

“D-daddy…?” Cass whimpered. Suddenly, logic had left him.

She sounded terrified and tired; more terrified than Bruce had ever heard before. And she had called Bruce “ _daddy_.” She never called him that. Something was very, _very wrong._

“Cass? Cass, are you okay? Are you hurt? What happened?” Bruce asked in rapid succession. It was partial acting for the cops, partial genuine panic. Cass had never ever sounded so desperate before. Not after he adopted her at least.

“Okay,” she breathed out. Her breath sounded sharp. She took deeper inhales than normal. Her voice was shaking. _God, what were they doing to his daughter?_ “Scared. Daddy…scared.”

“Cass,” Bruce gulped. It was mostly real fear now, mixed with a lot of anger. Some scum had just climbed up to number one on Batman’s most wanted list. “We’re going to get you out of there, okay? Stay calm. Just tell me what happened.” Bruce glanced at Gordon. He was gesturing for Bruce to continue talking as long as he could so they could get an accurate location on the call. Bruce guessed Dick was doing the same thing.

“Cornered on the way to the mall,” _why did she sound so small?_ “No way out.” It sounded like she was on the verge of crying. “Home. I want to go home, daddy.”

“I know Cass, I know. We’re going to get you home safe and sound. Do you know where you are Cass?”

There were a few breathes before the phone sounded like it was shifting again. He heard Cass scream “No!” in the background as the phone was taken away from her and given back to the kidnapper.

“Sorry Mr. Wayne, can’t tell you that just yet,” the voice teased. Bruce’s blood was boiling.

“Put her back on!” he demanded. 

“Don’t worry Mr. Wayne. We’ll take good care of her, for a fee of course.” The man stated as if it was obvious. “We want three hundred thousand by tonight, delivered by you, then you get her back. Drop it off at room 13 in Sanjun apartments on 18th and 31st in downtown. There, our guys will give you the address where you can find your daughter. No cops or funny business, otherwise princess is going to be in a whole new world of pain. Have the money by 9:15pm, or else all your getting is a corpse.”

The man hung up, leaving Bruce listening to dial tone and his own furious, frustrated yell.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello...so I finally finished...after several months...but I guess better late than never??
> 
> Enjoy friends!
> 
> Also shout out to shejams for commenting and encouraging me to finish after all this time
> 
> Also I know its short but thats because it was only suppose to be 2 chapters but then I wrote it and if I made it two chapters it would end up being one chapter of like 13 pages single spaced and I didn't want to do that. So yeah, the next one is gonna be long

Cass thought she did well. Scratch that, she thought she did excellent. The voice, the pause, even the breathing was convincing. 

The ride to the building and the few hours of waiting for the call time had been incredibly dull and uneventful. All they had done was tied her to a chair in the middle of the room. She was blindfolded, yes, but it was done poorly. All she had to do was move her eyes a certain angle and she could at least see the ground below her. That was all she really needed to take these guys down.

She was disappointed in it, actually. She thought kidnappings were a little more… adrenaline rushing. All she had been doing was sitting for hours. She did however keep her cover.

She shifted every now and then when her body felt the need to move. She whimpered a bit and acted as if she was really, deathly terrified. She had even managed to make fake tears during the call. Bruce would have to see her potential.

Bruce. She thought again.

It was hard to tell how he was really feeling without being able to see his body language. He sounded upset and afraid on the phone, but that was probably an act for the cops and the kidnappers. He wasn’t actually scared for her. He knew she was fine, she’s sure of it. She told him she was okay. Granted, she also told him she was scared, but he would have definitely understood that is was just to keep up the identity, right?

Maybe she wasn’t so sure. She knew she was fine, but she didn’t know if Bruce knew. Being untraceable for any amount of time always put him on edge. She didn’t mean to go off grid for so long, but she didn’t want to risk a rescue too early into to the kidnapping without getting her chance to act. If she had turned on her watch tracker while she still had it, Dick would have busted in to save her within five minutes, tops. That would’ve completely ruined her plan.

But she also didn’t mean to not activate her tracker. When they put her in the van, they took her tracking watch, making it impossible for her to get a message out without blowing her cover. 

She had even tried to make up with it by prolonging the phone call as long as possible so they could track through the Batcomputer. The long pauses and deep breathes weren’t just for show. She thought she should get some extra points for the acting and the strategy.

And her acting was good. Really good. She made sure her breaths were quick and deep to portray fear, and made her voice shake and eyes water to show desperation. She had even included the whole “daddy” thing to emphasize a need for comfort.

Yes. She was very good.

“She’s crying,” Cass heard one of the men say. She was, but they were fake. Fake, but plenty and convincing. “You think we could give her, like, water? Or something?”

“Yeah sure, I don’t think the others would mind,” another spoke.

Cass heard the shuffling of feet and then a sink faucet go on. Within a few second, someone had come up to her and pushed the glass up to her lip. She didn’t drink it though. They might be amateurs but she knew better than to drink something she couldn’t even see.

“Its just water,” the man said kindly, “I promise.” He waited for her to take a sip, but she refused. “Um, okay, here.”

The man walked around her and untied the blindfold that covered her eyes. With her vision restored, she could see the rest of the room. It was just a small apartment bedroom with only the chairs they were sitting on and a table. There were two doors, one that lead to a bathroom, and another that remained closed. She also had a good view out the window to the street below.

“Here, see?” the man returned to her line of sight with the glass of water in hand. “Its just water. Would you like some?”

Cass looked at the man bewildered. The poor sap was so inexperienced with crime he didn’t even put on his mask. She could clearly see his face. Rule one of crime: never let someone see the face. It could be used as evidence against them.

“Okay, look, I get that you’re scared and you don’t trust me, but drinking water would probably make you feel better,” the man ended with a trying smile. He looked harmless really. He was scrawny, and small. Cass knew she could break his arm like a toothpick if she needed to.

She almost felt bad for the guy. Whatever happened to get him stuck in such a position?

“Oh right! You probably want to know if its safe. Um, I’m pretty sure the water here is filtered, but then again, it’s Gotham, so you never really know,” Nerd (that’s what Cass decided to call him, he fit the description anyways) looked down at the cup. “Here, I’ll try it.”

Nerd took a small gulp from the cup and tested the water around in his mouth. “Seems okay. I think?” He smiled again. It was a kind, awkward smile.

Cass gave him a blank, confused look. This time it wasn’t acting; just pure confusion. This guy really had no idea what he was doing.

“Alright, um, just say something if you want a glass I guess,” Nerd said defeated and looked away. “Look, I’m really sorry about all this, but thing is, I’m doing this for someone who really needs the money, and I know it isn’t fair, but we’re kinda desperate right now.”

“Dude,” the other man in the room finally spoke again. “You don’t have to explain yourself to her. Just came back here and guard the door.”

Nerd gave an apologetic look before leaving Cass’s side to reclaim his seat on the table near the door.

He seemed genuinely sorry about what he was doing, which was much more than she could say for the rest of his group. Plus, she didn’t think someone like him would end up in a group like this unless whoever he was talking about was really, really desperate. 

When all this was over, she would look into who Nerd really was and maybe help the pathetic guy out.

***  
Bruce had taken a second to process what had just happened. Cass was scared, terrified even. Hurt? Maybe. She said she was okay but who knows what they had done to her? Her breathing was all off, it could be an effect of some drugs. That could also explain the short sentence lengths, but Cass rarely used long sentences in her speech, so that may be the reason.

Then again, it could all be just an act to keep up their identities, but then why hadn’t she checked in or called when she was taken? They sounded like some run of the mill crooks, but then why had they taken Cass so easily? Why had she sounded so genuinely afraid on the phone? It didn’t make sense.

“Bruce!” Gordon shook him back to reality. He must have zoned out. “Bruce we need you to get the money.”

Bruce nodded in acknowledgement as he went over the ways he could excuse himself from the situation to dawn the cape and cowl.

“We’ll send you to give the money to them, but we’ll have some undercover cops follow you as backup. When you have the address, you and another team go straight there. I’ll send someone to follow the culprits so they won’t get away with the money. Understand?”

“Yes Commissioner,” Bruce said recomposing himself. “I’ll make some calls and have them deliver the money here.”

Bruce exited the room leaving Alfred to distract them while he called Dick and Jason through the comm line. “Dick, Jay, did you hear that?”

Dick replied first, “Bruce what’s going on? Do you know who has her? Why does she sound so…so not-Cass?”

“You mean so afraid.” Jason corrected him.

“I don’t know, but I don’t like the implications. Something has gone wrong on her end. Did you two get the location?”

“Yeah, the phone call was long enough to pinpoint the exact building she’s in,” Dick replied. In the background, he heard Dick’s motorcycle start up.

“Good, go there, but don’t engage. We need to find out what we’re up against.” Bruce warned.

“They sounded like amateurs, B. They didn’t even use a voice modulator.” Jason countered, a low but tense tone leaked into his voice. “I don’t like the idea of just sitting there and staking it out if she’s in trouble.”

“I know Jason, but we can’t risk it until we know who’s really behind this. For as long as I’ve known Cass, she’s barely ever been caught off guard or beaten. Whoever it did this was able to get the upperhand on her. They could be very dangerous,” Bruce explained. “I’ll meet you two there and we’ll move in together. Report in if you see anything strange.”

“Bruce,” Dick cautiously interrupted, “Jason and I can handle this. You need to be there as Bruce Wayne. Jay and I can go as we please. You could be risking a lot by trying to go after Cass in the suit.”

“Don’t talk to me about risks!” Bruce answered coldly, “I am not going to risk your lives by letting you go in blind. And I won’t risk Cass’s life by trusting that they will let her go the moment I give the money. Wait. For. Me. There.”

“Fine,” Dick grumbled. The sound of his motorcycle hitting the street was heard in the background.

“Jason?” Bruce questioned.

“No promises,” he said. Bruce let it slide though, that was all he was going to get from Jason anyway.

***  
“I can’t believe he doesn’t trust us! Does he think we would risk Cass’s life? Of course we wouldn’t, but we can’t just sit around while she’s being held hostage,” Jason complained as he and Dick searched the area the kidnappers were keeping Cass. The building was right in front of them, and they had already pinpointed which room she was in. They could even see her silhouette from where they were. Honestly, all they had to do was bust in and rescue, but Bruce had asked them to wait. “I mean, really. That’s my sister they have in there! Does he expect me to just wait for someone to hurt her?!”

“I get it Hood! I get it, but B has a point. She doesn’t go down easy, so whoever did this was good enough to catch her off guard and beat her. We don’t know what we’re up against here, so its better to go in as prepared as possible.” Dick tried to reason.

“But what’s the difference if he’s here?” Jason rebutted and kicked some rocks. “He knows just as much as we know. All he is, is extra muscle. But Nightwing, I’m serious, we can handle these guys.”

Dick was torn. Of course he wanted to barge in now and get his sister out as soon as he could, but he also knew Bruce had a point. They couldn’t go in blind. It would risk both their’s and Cass’s safety. 

But Jason’s points were really hitting home.

“Hood, lets just give it a few minu— “

“Wait, what’s that guy doing?” Jason interrupted. They peered over their cover on the roof to see what was going on in the room. 

They couldn’t see the faces, it was too dark in the room for that. But they could see the body movements. Cass was tied to a chair, and another man had brought his own in front of her’s. He seemed to be brushing her face with his hand gently. It was a slight, and careful movement, but Cass stiffened a bit at the contact.

“The damn creep!” Jason howled and slammed his fist on the concrete. “He’s touching her!”

Dick remained silent, but the storm inside him grew stronger and stronger. How dare he. How. Dare. He. Even. Think. About. Touching. His. Sister.

No, Dick was not going to let this happen. Not to one of his little siblings. Not now, not ever.

“B,” Nightwing announced over the comm, “we’re going in.”

“Dick, wait what— “ Before Bruce could finish, Dick pulled the comm out of his ear and dropped it onto the roof.

“Finally,” Jason said as he did the same with his.

“Hood,” Dick gave his little brother a stern and hard look.

“I know, I know. Don’t let my rage get the better of me.”

“Actually,” Dick countered, anger and protectiveness taking full control. “Make sure they hurt.”

Jason grinned under his helmet and the two dove into the building.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tada. Hope you like it! I guess also like, happy holidays? Here's my present to y'all

Cass had been waiting for quite some time. If she kept count correctly, it was nearing the end of the time limit the kidnappers had set for Bruce. It was strange. She thought one of the Bats would have been here by now to bail her out.

She didn’t panic though. She was still new to the whole being kidnapped thing so she guessed it was normal. Last minute saves were always more dramatic anyways. She knew, she’d done it a few times for her brothers.

She waited for what felt like an eternity. The men had not placed back the blindfold so she had them both in her sights. Judging from the body language, Nerd did not feel comfortable with the situation at all. The other, while he was nervous, was significantly more relaxed than Nerd.

Actually, form what she could tell, this was Nerd’s first time in crime, and while it wasn’t the other man’s first time in crime, it was his first time at a kidnapping. She vaguely wondered if amateurs like these caught her brothers too.

The minutes stretched into hours of waiting for something, anything to happen. She had already gone dry with the tears, but they left a sticky, damp feeling on her face that was starting to bother her.

She tried to wipe it off by rubbing her cheek to her shoulder, but it wasn’t really helping much. Nerd noticed this and took out his handkerchief.

“Here, I can help with that,” he said as he came up to wipe the tearstains off her face. “Don’t worry, this is clean. I haven’t used it yet.”

His movements were a tad awkward. He didn’t want to invade her space anymore than he already did. That was very obvious to Cass, but he did want to make her feel as comfortable as possible, for a kidnaping at least.

Cass moved away at first, just to examine if the handkerchief was clean, then allowed him to clean the tear stains off. It was indeed an awkward minute.

“Ya know what? I’ll just dab this with some water to wash off the rest,” Nerd moved to go to the sink. Cass watched him as he passed a window to get there. Down on the street below, she could see shadows created by the moonlight. It looked like people, two of them, one lean, one with a muscular build, making their way across the roof.

Dick and Jason.

Finally.

Nerd came back into the room and dabbed her face with the damp handkerchief again. “There we go. Better?” He said.

But a moment later, a fight was heard from just outside the door. People yelling, shots being fired, and bodies being bruised. And then she heard the tell tale sounds of bones being broken and one man screaming for mercy.

That was…a bit excessive for a civilian kidnapping. She didn’t go that rough whenever one of the others was kidnapped.

Nerd and the other guy backed away from the door.

“What was that?” the other man said.

Suddenly, the door busted open and Nightwing and Red Hood came through. The fury and roughness in their movements were tenser than Cass had ever seen. The room behind them was littered with the unconscious (and broken) bodies of the rest of the kidnapping team.

“You better hope your bones are stronger than their’s” Nightwing said, pointing his thumb to the crooks behind him. Red Hood cocked his gun.

That wasn’t good.

They were moving fast. Nerd jumped out of the way just as Nightwing swung his fist towards him, instead, hitting other kidnapper with a resounding crack. That was a broken nose for sure.

The guy tried to get up, but Red Hood gave him a hard kick to the side before another extremely hard hit to the face with the back of his gun. He finished the job by dislocating the guys shoulder joint. A scream of pain echoed through the air.

What had gotten into those two?

Once that was done, Nightwing and Red Hood set their sights on Nerd.

“U-um, I-I-I,” Nerd gulped, “I surrender.” He said raising his shaking arms in the air.

“Don’t think a creep like you can get off the hook so easily,” Nightwing warned menacingly. He dashed across the room, and Cass turned (as much as she could tied to the chair) to try and get a better angle.

Nightwing held Nerd by the cuff of his shirt and lifted him off the ground. His body movement’s showed he was livid with anger, Cass noted, and looked back to see if Jason knew anything about it. She’d barely ever seen Dick that angry before.

But Red Hood was giving a similar movement. He was tense and rigid, and looked ready to jump in and punch the guy too.

“P-please,” Nerd begged, “I swear she’s ok!”

“Does she look ok to you?!” Nightwing shook him. Cass didn’t think she looked that bad. “You dare lay a finger on her?!”

“Oh, you are going to be in a world of hurt buddy,” Red Hood said from behind Nightwing. The two looked about ready to give Nerd the beating of his life.

Cass needed to step in now.

In a single swoop, she got to her feet and bounced off the wall to gain momentum. She flipped through the air and landed on the chair, smashing it to pieces and setting herself free.  
“Stop,” she ordered with authority as she got between Nightwing and Nerd. “Fine. I’m fine.”

Nightwing was stunned at the move, and even more so at the demand, that it left him frozen in shock. Jason, on the other hand, took things differently.

“What do you mean ‘stop’?” He grabbed Cass shoulder and turned her around to face him, leaving his hand protectively placed there. He was furious. “This guy—he was—look, nobody does things like this to you and gets away with it! I don’t care if you’re fine! You were scared and its this guy’s fault!”

Ah, so perhaps her acting was a bit too convincing. 

“I can explain,” she retorted softly, and then turned back around to Dick. “Put him down. Now.”

Dick seemed apprehensive about the request, but he did as he was told. Nerd hit the ground with a whimper and crawled as far back to the wall as he could. Jason gave him a hard glare, while Dick gave him a nasty, bitter one and knocked him out promptly. No more extreme violence this time around.

“What the hell is going on Cass?” Jason questioned, trying to get her full attention. “How in the world did you, of all people, end up in a situation like this?”

It was obvious by the way they were positioned that both still had their guards up. Jason was trying to get her to look directly at him in case Dick needed to take her out form the back. At least, that’s what it looked like.

She couldn’t really blame them. It was incredibly out of character for her to be kidnapped, much more so terrified and calling for “daddy,” but it had all been an act. They would understand. She was protecting her identity, the family’s identities, and everything they worked so hard to build (and maybe it was even more so a regrettably selfish attempt to get the undercover mission she wanted, but she wasn’t going to tell them that).

“Secret identities,” she merely said. “I was protecting mine’s, your’s, all of our’s.”

Dick and Jason glanced at each other over her and then looked back down at her distrustfully. Didn’t seem like they were buying that story.

“If that’s so, then why didn’t you activate your watch tracker?” Jason asked skeptically. “Its made for this reason specifically.” 

She looked between the two of them and considered her choices. The reason she hadn’t activated it was because Dick would get there too fast if she did, and she wouldn’t have gotten a chance to accomplish her plan. On the other hand, she knew that the tracker in the watch only took a second to press and activate. Even in the tightest situations, any of them would have been able to press a tiny button on the watch.

If she told them why she’d done it, that it was to prove she could do the whole acting-espionage-undercover stuff, they just give her what she wanted.

But she wanted to earn the mission. If she had to lie a bit, then so be it. (And maybe, just maybe, a small part of her was ashamed for putting them through all this when she could have left anytime she’d wanted to.)

“No time,” she commented, “they took it before I had a chance.”

“Then why didn’t you try to outrun them, or fight them?” Dick asked her. If his body language didn’t already give it away, his tone was sheer evidence of his distrust.

“Better to play the part than risk our identities,” she tried to explain.

“Nice try,” Jason said as he raised his gun and aimed it at her. She knew he wasn’t aiming for anything critical, it was just a warning to stay put. “But the Cass I know is smart enough to activate her tracker the moment she senses something wrong. And, even if she didn’t, she would have run or fought her way through. So either you are not who we think you are, or one of our enemies got the drop on you and somehow got you under their control.” Dick didn’t reject the idea. It looked like both of them were ready to take her down.

As to how Jason came to that conclusion or why Dick seemed to agree with it was beyond her understanding at the moment. What wasn’t, was that she had gotten herself into a very big mess.

“Cass,” Dick called her, trying to look as friendly as possible. “Look, you’re going to be fine. We need to bring you home and get you checked.”

Cass really couldn’t believe this. On one hand, her acting was so good that it fooled Jason, Dick, and probably Bruce too. On the other hand, she also made them worry a bit too much.

“I am fine,” she argued, but relented. She was going back to the Manor anyway, and nobody in the room wanted to get into a fight. She relaxed herself and got out of her defensive stance. Jason lower his gun while Dick took out a pair of handcuffs.

As Dick and Jason neared her, she saw a shadow dashed across the street. Then suddenly, the window broke and Batman landed in with dark rage.

Not a good sign.

On instinct, Jason had grabbed Cass and shielded her on the ground, while Dick pulled out his escrima sticks expecting a fight. When the two saw it was Batman however, they let their guards down.

Batman took in the situation. Cass could imagine how confusing it must look; a trail of bloody, broken, kidnappers on the ground, the handcuffs meant for her, and Dick and Jason with their defenses up.

She really had created a huge mess.

“Explain. Now.” Batman ordered. He seemed both furious and worried at the same time.

“I told you we could handle this!” Jason shouted before anyone else could say a word. “You weren’t going to do anything if Nightwing and I hadn’t stopped them first!”

“What he’s trying to say,” Dick interrupted, more calmly than Jason but with the same amount of intensity, “is that we had to make a split second decision. We saw danger and we acted.”

“You went against a direct order,” Bruce asserted. He was really angry now.

“Because that’s what the situation called for,” Dick answered back. The two were on the verge of another fight, and when Dick and Bruce fought, no one wanted to get between them. Even Jason was inching out of their way. 

“You could have put yourselves in danger, could have put Cass in more danger, by going in blind. You let your emotions get the better of you and could have cost yourself your life. We still don’t know exactly what we’re up against. You can’t just—“

“I can’t just, what?! Listen Batman, you aren’t the only who gets worried when things like this happen!” Dick waved his arms in the air, emphasizing his anger. He was obviously talking about all the times someone in family has been kidnapped because of their connection to Bruce. “You can’t just expect us to wait while you try to make everything better! It just doesn’t work like that! Family doesn’t work like that!”

“This isn’t about family right now Nightwing! This is about you disobeying a direct order on a mission. I can’t trust you to help me if I can’t trust you to listen to orders!”

“Its never about family with you, is it? Its always about the mission. You—“

“Enough!” Cass shouted, getting between the two men. The two had gotten into a heated argument in the middle of a random apartment building, littered with unconscious criminals, right in front of her and Jason. Cass had enough already.

The room went silent. Bruce calmed himself and redirected his attention towards Cass. The worry returned to his face as he examined his daughter injuries. “Cass, are you hurt?”

She shook her head, but just as she did, Jason finally decided to tune back into reality without Bruce and Dick arguing. “Careful Batman,” he warned. “Her story makes no sense. We think she might be under some kind of outside influence. She could have freed herself anytime, but she didn’t. That doesn’t sound very Cass-like to me.”

Bruce looked directly into Cass’s eyes, probably using the tech in his cowl to check for any signs of mind control, or magic spells, or whatever Bruce’s paranoid mind could come up with as explanation. 

“The cowl isn’t picking up anything,” Bruce informed the others. She knew she shouldn’t, but Cass felt offended that they were talking about her like she wasn’t in the room. “She seems fine.”

“Which is exactly why her not turning on her tracker, fighting them off, or escaping on her own, does not make sense.” Dick clarified. Bruce grunted in agreement. Cass had to admit, her actions did seem pretty out of character, even alarming, if she was in their shoes.

Bruce turned to her and gave her an expectant look. He wanted her to explain. He didn’t have his guard up like Jason and Dick did though, so that was a good sign at least.

“Protecting our secret identities,” Cass offered half-heartedly. She doubted he’d buy it but it was worth a try.

“The truth.” Bruce demanded sternly. 

Cass sighed and reluctantly explained the entire situation and her plan to act so well that they would see her potential. In her head, it sounded like a pretty good plan. Looking back however, she regrettably realized how selfish and unprofessional it was. She made a lot of people worry.

“I’m sorry,” she said when she finished her little confession. She knew the small, incumbent apology wasn’t really enough to make up for everything she did, but it was one step of the way to fixing things.

“So let me get this straight,” Jason started, still in a bit of disbelief, “you got yourself kidnapped all because you wanted an espionage mission, but you couldn’t just ask Bruce for one because he would just give it to you because you’re you. You made us all worry because you wanted to earn it?”

Cass felt her face heat up because of the embarrassment, “Yes.”

“So basically, this is B’s fault,” Jason replied.

What the—

“If B had just told you how good we all know you are, you wouldn’t have had to get yourself kidnapped to prove something to him. If he told you, he would’ve recognized how ready you are for your own undercover mission. But B, being the asshole he is, refuses to acknowledge and appreciate other people despite them obviously deserving it,” Jason explained, staring straight at Bruce as he did so.

Of course, leave it to Jason to pin anything and everything on the Batman.

“That’s not what I meant,” Cass quickly corrected. The night had been exhausting enough as it was. She didn’t want Jason warping her words just so he could use it against Bruce. “It was my fault, and I’m sorry.”

“Ya know, its been a long day, if everything is good here lets just wrap it up,” Dick said before anyone else could start arguing. “I’m tired, no one’s in trouble. We can deal with this at home, when we aren’t in a random apartment building surrounded by unconscious kidnappers.”

Cass was very grateful Dick was here. If not, she might have been trapped in one of Jason and Bruce’s never-ending guilt trip arguments. 

Bruce took a minute to consider, then gave Cass a stern look. “We’ll talk about this later. Red Hood, Nightwing, back to the cave,” Batman ordered. Dick shrugged and Jason held up his middle finger as the two jumped out of the window and back to the roof.

“You know the drill,” Bruce addressed Cass. She knew, of course, wait for the police and act it out as if the Batman had saved the day again. “We will discuss this further when you get back to the cave.”

Cass was not looking forward to that; a lecture about safety and guilt trip about lying to them. Her plan had really backfired, but she’s learned her lesson. Better to just be honest with Bruce about what she wanted than come up with increasingly complicated plans to hint at what she wanted.

Batman turned to the window, ready to follow Nightwing and Red Hood into the night. “And Cassandra,” he paused before jumping. “Very...excellent acting,” Batman said hesitantly, then grappled out the window.

Cass beamed. Maybe her plan wasn’t so bad after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it! Tips, comments, and all that jazz is appreciated.


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